Looking Ahead: Wolves v Cardiff

Wolves host Cardiff City at Molineux on Sunday, in a game that could have huge implications at either end of the nPower Championship.

The Bluebirds head the league by five points going into the weekend fixtures, and have already beaten Wolves at the Cardiff City Stadium this season.

Peter Whittingham scored all three goals as the Welsh side recovered from going behind to Bakary Sako's early free-kick to win 3-1 in early September.

That was Wolves' first visit to Cardiff's new home, but they did win during their previous trip to the Welsh capital - at Ninian Park during the promotion campaign of 2008/2009.

That victory - 2-1, courtesy of early goals from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Chris Iwelumo - came in early November, and was the third in a sequence of seven successive victories - the second time that Mick McCarthy's team achieved that feat that season.

Later on in that campaign, during the Molineux meeting of the sides, Ebanks-Blake was again on target inside the first fifteen minutes, but Wolves needed a late own goal from Cardiff goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos to salvage a draw after Michael Chopra and Roger Johnson had struck to put the visitors ahead.

The season before that, Wolves did the league double over Cardiff for the first time in over 40 years, winning 3-2 at Ninian Park and 3-0 in the penultimate home game of the season - Michael Kightly scoring in both games.

However, the Bluebirds did get their revenge by knocking Wolves out of the FA Cup at the fifth round stage, before going on to reach the final.

Of the last 15 meetings between the sides, Cardiff have won six, Wolves five, and there have been four draws.

The two clubs are linked by - amongst others - Johnson, who played over 100 times for Cardiff between 2006 and 2009, and Dave Jones, who has had lengthy spells in charge of both teams.

Jones led Wolves to the Premier League in 2003, and, although he just failed to match that achievement at Cardiff, he was at the helm for that run to the FA Cup final in 2008.

Current Wolves manager Dean Saunders also had a brief spell on loan at Cardiff during the mid 1980s, playing four games for the Bluebirds after being loaned out by his hometown club, Swansea City.

Cardiff fans will have fond memories of Saunders' international career - the striker scored 22 goals for Wales, including a famous winner against Brazil at Cardiff Arms Park in 1991.